Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
I was lucky enough to be on the The Asian Writer’s ‘Becoming a writer’ course early last year, at a time when I had realised I wanted to write, but didn’t know how to be a writer. The course was perfect for me, 12 very structured and comprehensive weeks that took me through recognising what …
Toni Morrison said that if the book you want to read isn’t out there, write it yourself. So I did. I wrote it over a year-and-a-half and called it Strange. Growing up, I read voraciously, and short stories were a particular favourite. I especially enjoyed the ones with cleverly constructed plots that culminated in deliciously …
Last October, I attended the Asian Writer’s Festival for the second year running. A uniquely nurturing space, I particularly loved hearing wonderful poets like Khairani Barokka and Shivanee Ramlochan. A week later, I was thrilled to receive Farhana’s email to tell me I’d won the raffle prize of mentoring from poet Rishi Dastidar. Rishi is …
In 2011 I had travelled to Jaipur Literary Festival, THE JLF in Jaipur. It was a gigantic affair with all the glamour that the beautiful pink city could muster. Held in the Diggi Palace, and in shamianas that are so very colourful, the ‘greatest literary show on Earth’ which is patronised by a million booklovers …
The full report into Authors Earnings published last month highlights that conditions for working writers is deteriorating. The study, commissioned by ALCS, and carried out by CREATe found that author earnings are in sharp decline. Earnings fell by 42% in real terms since 2005 with the average author now making just under £10,500. A small …
In my debut novel The Trouble with Rose, Rilla Kumar ditches her fiancé Simon Langton at the altar to ask her Great Indian Family the very important question: what happened to her missing sister Rose. The story follows Rilla in her search for her sister, but is peppered liberally with her noisy, interfering family, her …
When did you know you had a story in you that you wanted to share? Many years ago, when my baby boy became ill, and the word SCID entered my life, I thought, one day, I would write about it to increase awareness about this rare and fatal condition. I was however conscious that I …
Curve, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and Leeds Playhouse are joining forces to co-produce a new stage production of Hanif Kureishi’s screenplay My Beautiful Laundrette. This bold new production of Hanif Kureishi‘s ground-breaking 1985 Oscar-nominated film of the same name will be directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster (Memoirs of an Asian Football Casual and Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw, both at …
Talented Asian writers have been shortlisted in this year’s Saboteur Awards. Short story writer, Susmita Bhattacharya has been shortlisted in the ‘Best Short Story Collection’ for her debut, Table Manners while London-based collective, The Whole Kahani – which includes writers Mona Dash and CG Menon, have been shortlisted for ‘Best Anthology’ for their second collection, …
South Asian Sisters Speak (SASS) was borne out of a frustration of the lack of safe spaces for South Asian women to share their experiences. Growing up in the UK, the mainstream feminist dialogue was often non-inclusive of the varying experiences of ethnic minorities. As a result, as co-founders we (Sheetal Mistry and Shirin Shah), …